Ricky Ponting picks his all-time greatest BBL playing XI

In its 10-year history, Australia’s domestic tournament Big Bash League (BBL) has created a legacy of its own and is one of the most renowned franchise cricket in the cricket fraternity. As Cricket Australia (CA) is successfully running the 10th edition of BBL, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting came up with his BBL XI.

Ponting was forced to leave a few prominent overseas names as he had to pick just two internationals in his side. The veteran picked his team purely on the basis of stats like BPB (balls per boundary), Basra (batting average + strike rate), and WPI (wickets per innings).

For the opening slot, Ponting surprisingly picked Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh. Finch has 2252 runs on his name in 63 innings while Marsh has amassed 1884 runs in 49 games at 45.95. However, Ricky sidelined BBL’s highest run-getter Chris Lynn as he believes that Finch and Marsh are more trustworthy to give a solid start on a consistent basis.

Further, Ricky Ponting chose Brad Hogg who has 1412 runs to his name in 50 games with a BPB of 6.18 and Basra of 177.14. Ponting is of the view that Hogg is a class player across all the formats and he has majorly dominated the Big Bash for a number of years at a number of clubs.

Ricky Ponting picks Matthew Wade ahead of Alex Carey

Coming to the fourth slot, Ponting chose the power-hitter and spin all-rounder, Glenn Maxwell. Over the years, Maxwell has proved his mettle both with the ball and willow. Also, he is known to be a live wire on the field. The next player in Ricky’s BBL XI is George Bailey who was tactically very good and a very experienced player and had the ability to change the game in his team’s favour by batting with an outstanding strike rate in death.

Marcus Stoinis is the other all-rounder in Ponting’s BBL best XI as he believes that Stoinis is the best all-rounder in the Big Bash for the last couple of seasons. Matthew Wade is named as the wicketkeeper of the side and the batsman who has the capability to bat at Number 7. Ponting chose Wade ahead of Alex Carey as he feels that Wade at No.7 might just finish the game a bit better than Carey.

The former Australian captain’s bowling attack comprised Sean Abbott, Rashid Khan, Lasith Malinga, and Ben Laughlin. All four players have been lethal with the ball and have emerged as match-winners for their respective franchises.

Here’s the XI: Aaron Finch (c), Shaun Marsh, Brad Hodge, Glenn Maxwell, George Bailey, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Sean Abbott, Rashid Khan, Ben Laughlin, Lasith Malinga